CARTOON has selected 50 projects for its 2026 Cartoon Movie film pitchfest, and there are going to be a lot of familiar kids industry faces at the event in March.

A record-breaking 150 submissions were received this year, and some of the studios that have been selected to pitch their films in development in hopes of connecting with co-producers, distributors, broadcasters and financing include Cottonwood Media, TeamTO and Folimage.

The majority of this year’s projects are aimed at kids and families (29 in total), and France is highly represented in the selection with 15 projects, followed by Germany with six and Spain with five.

More and more kids content studios have pivoted to feature films to tap into a growing market demand for family-friendly movies, escape the current challenges of financing television, expand brands and revenue streams, and experiment with longer-form storytelling. And that’s why the Cartoon Movie event is on more radars these days.

Cottonwood Media (Find Me in Paris) is bringing The Heart of the Djembe (pictured) to the market. This 80-minute film is about eight-year-old Imani who dreams of playing a djembe drum. The only problem is her instrument is cursed. She has to journey into the forest to lift the hex and save her village from a drought. Booya Studios (Ivory Coast) and Umedia (Belgium) are co-producers.

French studios Les Armateurs and Folimage are collaborating on a 2D-animated adaptation of a French kids book series called Cornebidouille that has sold more than a million copies in France. Their 75-minute film concept focuses on a mean witch who meets her match in a stubborn boy who refuses to eat her cursed soup. Les Armateurs and Folimage previously teamed up on kids film The Songbirds’ Secret, which premiered theatrically in October. 

Dutch studio Submarine Animation (Fox and Hare Save the Forest) is pitching a feature-length adaptation of the popular animated series Sam & Julia. Based on a same-name book series that has sold more than a million copies, this film for preschoolers stars a mouse who\ teams up with a neighbor to solve the mystery of who is stealing everyone’s toys in her new building. This is a pretty hot European brand, which M.A.R.K.13 (one of the film’s co-producers) adapted into a series that France Télévisions and NPO in the Netherlands aired last year.

And finally, TeamTO is pitching its Akira Kurosawa-inspired film Akira’s Flying Wheelchair, about an inventor and a paralyzed former track star in a flying wheelchair who explore a mystical forest. The studio was at Cartoon Forum in September showcasing its first anime-inspired series: Shadow Soccer.

Cartoon Movie will take place in Bordeaux, France from March 3 to 5. A full list of the selected projects can be found here.